Belkin expunges expensive wireless HDMI gadget

FlyWire demoed at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show in January 2008. More than 18 months on and inspired by an early decision to double the product's proposed price, Belkin late last week said: "We will no longer be introducing FlyWire to the market at this time."

It added: "We realise that its retail price of $1499 would be out of line given the current state of the economy. With that in mind, we’ve opted to halt production of FlyWire."

Belkin's FlyWire: flown away

The price ramp emerged in September 2008, when Belkin said the box - due to go on sale that summer - would now not appear until November 2008. Back in January, the company had said the box would cost between $500 and $600. By July 2008, the price had gone up to $700 for a one-room model and $1000 for the multi-room edition.

FlyWire was designed to deliver multiple uncompressed HDMI audio and video streams using proprietary wireless technology that operates in the 5GHz band. There's a receiver unit for your HD TV. The FlyWire had six inputs - three HDMI, two component-video and one composite-video - and can switch between them. ®